Criticism of sewage plant smell

May 1998

A complaint about smells from the sewage treatment system at Woodside estate, Rathnew, was raised at the monthly meeting of Wicklow County Council by Dick Roche TD.

He asked what steps were being taken to improve the operation of the plant, and to prevent the smells.

The council’s response was that the only occasions when there are problems are when there’s an unexpected power failure, vandalism, flash floods, or rags in the system.

When power cut-offs are notified to the council in advance, the caretaker arranges for the chamber to be emptied prior to disruption.

Steps have been taken to make vandalism impossible and while flash flooding is rare, the last remaining problem, of rags fouling the impellers of the pumps, is also rare, and is attended to as quickly as possible.